Japan: Camping on the shore of Lake Giselle
So you're in Japan and sick to death of the sound of constant traffic and the buzz of people. You want to get away from the hive and just chill somewhere beautiful, quiet and serene. And where there are no tourists... From spending a year or two living in and around the port city of Nagoya, Lake Giselle (as named by us, for lack of it's real name) is your best bet...
Lake Giselle is a beautifully remote, yet easily accessed lake located in the centre of Japan's main island, Honshu. The nearest major city is Nagoya. The area is easily reached via Japan's excellent public transport system, by catching a train to the small town of Tarui (about 40 minutes from Nagoya, 1.5 hours from Kyoto, 2 hours from Osaka), and then walking 40 minutes through the small town and countryside, into the mountains, and finally to the lake.
For more detailed directions on how to reach Lake Giselle scroll to the bottom of this document and follow the directions under "Getting there"
here are excerpts from Laina's journal...
Well last week was Golden week here in Japan, which meant no work and all play for about 9 days. Al and I decided to go camping in Tarui, a place we'd gone hiking last summer. Thoughts of a beautiful lake surrounding by green forests and fern covered cascading ravines filled our minds with excitement and anxiousness. And in the process, also clouded our minds from remembering how to actually get to said amazing and beautiful lake. As it happened, we actually found it by complete accident the first time around, and at the time had made a point to note certain landmarks, to make it easier to find our way back. But a year's time, and the fact that the Japanese countryside tends to look a bit the same from various angles, i.e. rice fields, mountains, power lines… well here goes Tarui, Part Deux.
April 29, 2007
After a very late night dancing at a club called the Creek, where our friend Tom-u was DJ'ing, we set out for Tarui, via the JR train line. When we got to the station we first headed to the local grocery store to stock up on some food. Our shopping list ended up as follows: bread, jam, bananas, a bento box of sushi, potato chips, two small boxes of chocolate mushrooms (not that kind), water, ginger ale, tuna fish, and whiskey. Now we were ready.
From there we simply started walking towards the mountains. To give an idea of distance, it's about 3km from the station to the base of the mountains. We weren't sure if we were coming from the right direction as last year we biked from Ogaki, where Al was living at the time. Either way, we arrived at one side of the mountain, surrounded by flooded rice patties, old farmers in conical shaped woven hats, and Buddhist cemeteries. It was then that we remembered- a cemetery had been one of our landmarks… but which one? We walked through a small village, that looked entirely unfamiliar, and asked a man on a tractor if he knew where the lake was. He smiled and pointed ambiguously. We followed the vague direction of his finger for about 20 more minutes, to find ourselves at a small shrine atop a slight ledge in the mountain, and with no trail to follow further. Turning back around… walking backwards a bit more, we found a cemetery, that we were pretty sure wasn't the one from last year, but followed the trail next to it anyway. The trail ended and we were climbing over rotting wood that had been felled long ago and never collected. It was sunny, hot, and we were getting a fair bit frustrated, so we stopped and had something to eat, and to um… strategize. Now, some of you may remember from my journal last year, my allusion to the two of us being divining rods… well we decided to put our faith once again into our most likely imagined abilities to find water, and just kept on walking through the woods, on no actual path, over and under trees and branches and thicket, and at one point, on a ridge, through waist high grasses, where we disturbed a napping boar. Luckily he was more scared of us than we should've been of him. And then suddenly, over another bit of the ridge, and there, in the distance, we saw a glimpse of water… now all we had to do was get to it! Down a ravine, up another, through the woods a bit more, and finally, there we were, on the familiar dirt path encircling the finger shaped, looping lake system. Sighs of relief, pats on the back, let's camp.
We found a nice bit of clearing next to the path, at the end of one of the finger tips of the lake, which had a nice little mud beach along side it. After setting up the tent, we stripped down and attempted a swim. We got in to our knees and realized we'd been way to optimistic about the water temperature; but no worries, there was still the sun.
Along the lakes edge there are tons of make-shift wooden planks set up for fisherman. We stationed ourselves on two of them, and began to soak up the golden rays of early afternoon. After about 20 minutes were heard voices coming, and scrambled for our clothes. A family out for a Sunday afternoon stroll! No offense was made. Instead we retired to the tent to nap, as the fact that we hadn't really slept the night before was starting to become more apparent to us. We woke up just in time to utilize the last bit of daylight to find firewood.
The first night Al built the fire in his style. It's really interesting to see how different people build fires, as everyone learns a slightly different way, and the of course over time makes it their own. Al collects his wood, but only starts out with a small pile of kindling and dried grass. He lights that, and then builds with the larger pieces of wood on top of that once it's already lit. The fire took off, and we made toast with jam, tuna sandwiches, and opened up the whiskey. It was almost a full moon out, a clear sky, and for the first time since China, we were far enough away from city lights to actually see the stars.
April 30, 2007
The next morning we woke up pretty early, as our tent faced east and it was bright out by about 9am. Bathing suits on (lesson learned) we set up shop on our respective docks, and became worshippers to the almighty sun. When giving my back a turn at the rays, I was reading "The Kite Runner" by Kahled Hosseini, which I highly recommend to everyone. It's a very well written and poignant story of a boy growing up in Afghanistan during the 70's, and how his life changed with the invasion of Russia. Aside from the historical perspective, it is also a great and rare view into Afghani culture. And… it's simply a really great story about a boy growing up, loving and hating a best friend, loving and fearing his father, loathing and fighting himself. Give it a go.
After a few hours of sun bathing we went for a walk along the paths, where Al happened upon a snake. I'd stepped on one earlier, but it slithered away to quickly for us to really look at it. This one was quite still, or at least moving very slowly, and Al was able to get a few photos of it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't poisonous, but who knows really (we were later told that it's the most common snake found in Japan and not poisonous, though apparently you should watch out for the red ones, because they are). Back to the camp area, we decided we'd need to go back into town. It wasn't that we'd run out of food, but we were out of whiskey. Following the path out, we came out next to the cemetery we'd told ourselves a year ago not to forget, and this time we took a photo to ensure we wouldn't again.
It was really nice walking through the town, so good to be out of the city. Women wearing jeans, t-shirts, and flip-flops, not fishnet stockings and stiletto heels. Men in casual track suits, not tight acid washed jeans and alligator, heeled, pointy boots. Reasonable cars, minimal noise, simplicity.
We got back before dark, collected firewood, and I lit a fire. At some point we began to run out of firewood, so I decided to head into the pitch-dark forest for more. I found a fallen tree, and began to drag it out. Of course in the dark, I couldn't actually see the hole in the ground, and I faltered, fell, and sprained my right ankle (yes, for about the 12th or 13th time, I stopped counting some time in 2003) After a barrage of curses and shouts, I settled by the fire and pouted at my own, somewhat drunken stupidity. Sleep.
May 1, 2007
We woke up the next morning to the lovely sound of heavy rain hitting the roof of our tent. Let's wait it out… 5 hours of waiting it out, in the smugness and mugginess of our little green tent, and it had barely let up. The lower sides of the ten were starting to feel damp, along with everything else. We decided to just get it over with, and break camp in the rain. Not that I was so useful, hobbling around, but I did what I could. Al carried everything down the mountain, as the extra weight on my ankle, along with the slippery path, simply wasn't the wisest course for me to take. Once were down into town the rain had almost all but died away. Train station, train, home sweet Kamimaezu home. Not the greatest way to end a trip, but overall we could never complain. A great couple of days to remind ourselves that Japan is more than just a convenient yet concrete jungle. There is a whole other side just waiting to be explored.
Getting there...
(for a nice printable version of this map, cut n' paste the following into a Word doc)
PART 1 – GETTING THE TRAIN TO TARUI
From Nagoya (40 minutes)
Take a JR train on the Tokaido line heading towards Ogaki. When you arrive at Ogaki change platforms and get on a train towards Maibara. Tarui is the first station away from Ogaki.
Nagoya à Ogaki à Tarui à Maibara
From Kyoto (1.5 hours) / Osaka (2 hours)
Take a JR train on the Tokaido line heading towards Nagoya. When you arrive at Maibara change platforms and get on a train towards Ogaki or Nagoya. Tarui is one stop before Ogaki.
Osaka à Kyoto à Maibara à Tarui à Ogaki
PART 2 – WALKING FROM TARUI STATION TO LAKE GISELLE (walking time – 40 minutes)
Upon exiting the ticket gates turn right down the stairs and out of Tarui station. Take a right and walk past the undercover bike areas and down a walkway until you hit a road over looking the river. Turn left up this road, and then turn right over the bridge that crosses the river. After crossing the bridge, keep following this road as it veers to the left. The road will end in a T-intersection, where you will turn right, walk 50m, and then turn left at the set of lights. Keep walking until you reach another set of lights with a Circle K on the corner. Turn right at these lights and keep walking until you see this road (see below) turning left (look for the green Toex sign on the left).
Follow this road until you reach a set of lights crossing a main road.
Cross straight over this intersection and keep walking towards the cemetery on the hill in front of you. When you reach the cemetery take the road that winds around the left of the cemetery and heads up into the mountains.
You will then reach this intersection (see below) where you walk through the tunnel and continue walking up into the mountains.
From this point on it's just a matter of always taking the road that is heading up-hill. About 5 minutes after walking though the tunnel you will come to this fork in the road (see below). Take the left-hand fork. (We were also later told that the red kanji sign in the photo below says "Caution: Beware of bears". Maybe that wasn't a wild pig!)
Keep walking up-hill along the beautiful forest road. At the top of this road you will find the beautiful Lake Giselle. Congratulations!!!
